On Speaking Ill of the Dead A bit of advice to my fellow conservatives:

Do not speak ill of the dead.

I think you know to whom I refer, do you not?

A second bit of advice to my fellow Christians:

Do not speak ill of the dead.

Let us suppose that you are a wretched man, recently died under unseemly circumstances, whose life was made all the more wretched by fame. Oh? Do we not believe fame brings wretchedness? It brings its own temptations and its own sorrows that we private people, we happily private people never hunted by the sharkpacks of the press, never bloodlet by the parasites of wealth,know nothing of. It is like having a genii in a bottle: a very ignorant, somewhat diabolical genii, who will gleefully grant you the very wish that is your deepest wish, even if it destroys you.

Let us suppose you are a wretched yet famous man, who, passing through the horror of the grave, suddenly finds yourself, awed and surprised and terrified, at the gates of the Country of Endless Joy. And here at the gate sits your Creator, who made you for far finer things that what you have made of yourself, and now you must answer to Him. You must answer not for your public image, but for your innermost secret thoughts. You must answer for things no one else knows, not even your closest friends. Your heart will be measured in a balancing scale against a feather, and if your heart is heavy with sin, you will be thrown into an outer darkness, where the only sound is a wailing that does not end. But if the other pan of the balances lifts, the gates of bliss shall open.

How can you not pray, O Christians, for someone facing that judgment seat? You will stand there too someday. Your every word, including whether or not you spoke ill of the dead who cannot defend themselves, will come out of your own mouth to accuse you, and He who searcheth hearts will search yours.

When a man is alive, he can defend himself from criticism, whether justified or slanderous. When a man is dead, the angel of death who once passed over Egypt, sparing no first born of that land, stands at our elbow when we speak of the dead: and if he wears a helm of darkness, as the pagans feigned, we shall not see him, despite how real he is.

Remember, before you open your mouths, O my fellow Conservatives, O my fellow Christians, that your time on earth in not immortal either.

We're supposed to, you know. We're supposed to hate the sin and love the sinner, and pray for our enemies. We are to pray that the evil receive the grace of faith and are redeemed. The great saints prayed for those who persecuted and killed them. Christ prayed for those who were killing him, and asked that God forgive them. We are to imitate Christ.

Now this doesn't mean that I spend time on my knees praying for Michael Jackson, as I have bunches of other people to pray for. But we shouldn't rule out praying that dictators, killers, child molestors, etc. see the Light.

I’m of the opinion that as a rule one should show consideration to the family of the deceased. However if no one ever spoke ill of the dead how could history ever be realistically taught? That devils like Hitler, Stalin, and Mao were humanitarians who delivered the goods?

I was just about to post something along the same lines. I’d draw a distinction between telling the truth and engaging in pointless vitriol, however. Truth should be foremost in our minds. So we can say, “Yes, Michael Jackson was in all probability a child molester and it’s wrong to glorify and adore him,” and still pray .

"Speaking truth, at any time, is no vice. One neednt be vicious about it, though.

I believe that is exactly what the term ill, connotates or implies in this sense.

I know there are two forms of the passion of hatred - loathing and hostility. .

Loathing can be a virtue, when restrained to one's evil actions or some things being derived of evil. Whereas hostility is always sinful, because one takes a keen pleasure or immense satisfaction in seeing that particular someone has a difficult or or hard fate/life.

No, I have no idea where Michael Jackson is now. I suspect (and hope) he is in Heaven because of his gospel upbringing, but only God knows.

I was commenting on people praying for Michael- now. When someone is gone, it makes no sense to pray for them. To be absent from the body is to be with the Lord... or otherwise. No prayers can help you once you leave this mortal coil.

Imagine yourself standing on the edge of The Endless Sea of Drivel, wave after wave of pompous and inane commentary dashing against the rocky cliffs of our patience. And another Mindless Bloggi'er crawls out of The Murky Depths (can you bore me now?) to regurgitate the notion that the newly and notably dead have been hallowed by puffing their last misused breath.

Ahhhh, the cleansing effects of dropping temperature upon The Morally Twisted! Let's all put on our sequined latex gloves and give him our salute of The Grabbing of the Crotch. (white face paint optional).

23
posted on 07/10/2009 7:17:09 AM PDT
by count-your-change
(You don't have be brilliant, not being stupid is enough.)

38 Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you." Luke 6:38 (NKJV)

OKay, I am willing to be judged by the same standard I am judging the pedophile who ran off to Bahrain were sex with little boys is legal. Liberals always try to turn Christ's admonitions against hypocrisy into a prohibition against behavioral standards. Their Bibles get a lot of verses blacked out.

24
posted on 07/10/2009 7:37:00 AM PDT
by MrEdd
(Heck? Geewhiz Cripes, thats the place where people who don't believe in Gosh think they aint going.)

This passage has suffered significant abuse by the live-and-let-live crowd. They particularly like to isolate verse 1, “Judge not, that ye be not judged.” (Isn’t it amazing how many people have memorized that verse?) Pulling it completely out of the context in which Jesus spoke these words, they use it to criticize those who take a stand for righteousness among those who flaunt their sin. The point here is that the Pharisees practiced a false, high-profile, in-your-face righteousness. The Pharisees were, in fact, corrupt - not righteous. That’s the context in which Jesus accused these Pharisees regarding their quick-to-judge practices. In fact, Believers are to take a stand for righteousness and shun Believers who practice sin. You can clearly see that principle in I Corinthians 5:11 (see notes), “But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.” But be careful; make certain that, while you’re separating yourself from Christians practicing wickedness, you don’t have glaring inconsistencies in your own Christian testimony.

To acknowledge the evil of the acts that a person committed, alive or dead, is not to speak ill of that person but to speak of the evil of their acts. Perfectly fine and obligatory, as I understand it.

The type of memorial and slobberfest by the MSM are actions of those still living.

I believe MJ and the leftist MSM and the Democratic (socialist) Party of America all attempt to normalize man/boy love, pedophilia, sexual liberation for children, etc., all in an attempt to eliminate/destroy the grip of religious tradition on persons. This is an effort to deny the dignity of the human person making human persons simply objects to be used and discarded based on want or need of the State.

Hilarious, especially when there's no real context between the verses, to speak of.

See the subsequent verse:

Luke 6:40

A student is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.

Now what does a teacher have anything to do with being generous or condemning others to hell? Your "context" is imaginary.

I assume this behavior carries over to the other relationships and discourses in your life.

Nope. See above.

I am sad for you, and for your family.

I am glad that your doling out of false concerns and condemnations will help you in filling your moral voids by giving you a false sense of superiority. Every evangelizing religion on the planet was invented and designed to do so- to justify hypocrisy.

Like I mentioned at the very beginning here, it's all a one-size-fits-all justification tool, and a psychological convenience.

32
posted on 07/10/2009 8:45:09 AM PDT
by MyTwoCopperCoins
(I don't have a license to kill; I have a learner's permit.)

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